Back to the purple book! (2 Pet 1:2-4)

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (NKJV)

“Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you— your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.”(MSG)

Broken down:

• Grace and Peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ
  • experiential?
• God has given us all we need to live a godly, abundant life (thorough his power) (through knowing God)
  • We are to attain to the glory and excellence of God (goal)
• God has also given us, out of his glory and excellence, great and precious promises so that we can attain to his glory and excellence
  • Thus, the promises of God are God’s own virtue and excellence expressed on paper so that we can join him in His virtue and excellence

Application:  I’ve been meaning to assemble a list of promises to pray over myself and Abby.  There is a power to confessing and agreeing with the Word of God, while asking the Holy Spirit to make these promises come alive.  I need to take hold of the virtue and excellence of God for myself.  So, my goal will be to have a list for  tomorrow night!

This morning I was continuing on my journey through the “Purple Book,” and I will now, from time to time, share my thoughts on my morning devotionals. The Scripture that hit me today was John 8:31:

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NIV)

The NASB says, “if you continue in my Word…”

The Message says, “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you…”

Basically, the word for “hold, continue, stick with this” in the Greek means to, “remain, abide, stay”. It connotes holding onto and not letting go, living in a place for a while.

What struck me is that the obedience comes before the freedom. Often times we want God to explain why we should do something before we do it. This passage shows us that God works the opposite way: First we obey, then we understand the reason for obeying. I guess this is why we walk by faith, not by sight.

God is telling us that if we abide in His teaching, then we will “know the truth.” Abiding comes up in an explanatory passage in James 1:22-25:

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this (abides by this (NASB)), not forgetting what he has herd, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.”

So here this passage in James mimics the teaching of Jesus, If we continue to act (obey, abide, hold to, stick with) on Gods word, THEN we will know this truth. We will know it because we will have lived it out, and by doing it, it will set us free.

For God to set us free from our old mindsets, we have to obey Gods word in faith. Then we have to hold in our obedience. Eventually, God reveal the “why?” behind his truth…

And we will have new liberty to live in.

“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.”Gal 6:9 (MSG)